San Francisco 49ers: Prioritizing Each Position on Roster Before the 2016 NFL Draft

The San Francisco 49ers will have 12 selections to address plenty of needs via the 2016 NFL draft. Before the draft begins, Niner Noise presents a detailed position-by-position look at the team’s roster and how this will influence draft plans and priorities.

General manager Trent Baalke and the San Francisco 49ers were limited players on the free-agent market in 2016. Their biggest signing so far has been offensive guard Zane Beadles — not a bad transaction, given the needs along the offensive line — yet the Niners were awfully inactive in free agency despite boasting a huge amount of cap space.

San Francisco may still target additional free agents this offseason. But as the opening phase of free agency comes to a close, attention now shifts to preparations for the 2016 NFL draft.

The 49ers own a total of 12 picks in the upcoming draft, including the seventh overall selection to kick off Round 1. Four of the 12 picks are compensatory for the net loss of free agents during the 2015 offseason.

Taylor Price of 49ers.com broke down the picks and their respective placements for you:

For what it’s worth, compensatory picks cannot be traded. That rule changes in 2017, but the 49ers will have a stockpile of picks in Rounds 5 and 6. Non-compensatory picks may be moved though, which opens up the door to a number of trade possibilities.

Regardless of those scenarios, the Niners will need some significant upgrades to a roster coming off a 5-11 finish and either at, or close to the bottom, in nearly every major offensive and defensive category.

Pick a position and, chances are, the 49ers could use some upgrades there.

So here at Niner Noise, we wanted to break down San Francisco’s roster position by position and evaluate some of the players on the roster as well as grade the scale of need the 49ers have at each position in the upcoming NFL draft.

We’ll base this five-point criteria on the following scale:

• Priority 1: Serious attention — few/no bona fide starters
• Priority 2: Major attention — questionable/developing players to start
• Priority 3: Considerable attention — good players/depth but an upgrade could help
• Priority 4: Minor attention — starters likely in place but backup help may be needed
• Priority 5: No attention — no need for starters and/or depth

The evaluation won’t list the top-five areas of need or anything along those lines. Instead, let’s break down each position and determine how much attention the 49ers need to give during the draft.

Next: Quarterback